Never forget your real identity. You are a luminous conscious stardust being forged in the crucible of cosmic fire.
Deepak ChopraRead
Anyone can be a barbarian; it requires a terrible effort to remain a civilized man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Civilization requires effort and self-control, whereas succumbing to barbarism is easy.
This quote by Leonard Woolf highlights the idea that maintaining civility and a moral high ground in a world that often leans towards chaos requires significant effort and discipline. It suggests that while anyone can act primitively or without thought, it takes true strength and resolve to uphold civilized behavior and values, which can be a constant struggle against our more base instincts.
Themes
CivilizationEffortSelf-ControlBarbarismMoral Values
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of maintaining ethics in leadership.
Similar quotes
It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock-the private and the real, and the public and the artificial.
Mark TwainRead
There is something about poverty that smells like death.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
We need to have empathy. When we lose empathy, we lose our humanity.
Goldie HawnRead
Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?
Leo BuscagliaRead
Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.
Thomas BrooksRead